Former State Official to Head UCLA Environment Institute

Former state Resources Secretary Mary Nichols will move into academia next year as the new head of the UCLA Institute of the Environment.

Nichols said she hopes to more closely tie the research work of UCLA’s faculty with the real-life problems facing state and local government. She previously headed the group Environment Now and worked as assistant administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Clinton. More recently, she served as resources secretary under Gov. Gray Davis.

The institute, founded in 1997, includes 65 faculty members from 10 divisions of UCLA, including atmospheric sciences, law and urban planning.

“For me, the thing that made the UCLA offer irresistible was working with such a collection of great minds willing to confront the environmental issues we face in the world,” said Nichols, who lives in Los Angeles. “I hope to help them use their considerable resources to do research that can help policymakers.”

Nichols said that there was a “huge demand” from UCLA students for more courses on environmental issues, and that the university was pondering various options, including adding an environmental studies major.

UCLA officials said they were thrilled to add a conservationist of Nichols’ experience to their institute.

“Mary Nichols is a noted champion of efforts to bring cutting-edge science and analysis to environmental management,” UCLA Vice Chancellor Roberto Peccei, who oversees research, said in a statement. “She is a natural fit to help the Institute of the Environment to a new level.”